Notices by Michael Veale (mikarv@someone.elses.computer), page 2

@lanodan yep, i meant gTLD, my error, will edit

great to see @BBCRD and @BBCRadio4 etc on the fediverse...! although buying a ccTLD is an expensive way to verify yourself (upward of $150k...)

#Apple have enabled "#AdvancedDataProtection" (encrypting users' #iCloud server-side) in the UK. Update your device(s) to the latest version, and enable it.

The UK have significant powers under the #InvestigatoryPowersAct (& future #OnlineSafetyBill) to halt this rollout (or attempt to undo it, but that's harder) — so it's really worth enabling ASAP.

How to enable it: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212520 #encryption #e2ee

Twitter closing API access will drive the (questionable) study of social media posts to places like Mastodon. Classes that were teaching people social media scraping will likely turn to ActivityPub services. However, university #researchEthics committees should be wary of approving research as before. Unlike Twitter, instances and users can (and do) have much clearer views on being scraped. People can be contacted more easily for ethical consent in open protocols. Not a free for all any more.

@w3c @tag reject Google’s in-browser ad-targeting system Topics again. (minutes: https://w3c.social/@tag/109682533903910546) @robin notes Topics has ‘little chance of a credible future’. Now Google say they will ignore standard-setting; they are “committed to Topics” and “moving forward” https://www.businessinsider.com/web-standards-body-w3c-rejects-googles-ad-targeting-proposal-2023-1. Chromium’s dominance makes standards a convenient charade for G’s power.

The seasonal news that #WhatsApp will stop working on #iPhone 5 and below #Android 4.3 highlights how the lack of Web apps is a significant environmental problem. Phones become obsolete in part because they don’t get OS updates, and they become incompatible with compiled apps. A lightweight OS for old phones would be more feasible if it mainly had to have a solid Web browser that facilitated a proper selection of #ProgressiveWebApps (& if manufacturers made open drivers/docs). #PWA #PWAs

Turns out the main inaccuracy in @mmasnick's early November piece "Hey Elon: Let Me Help You Speed Run The Content Moderation Learning Curve" was he didn't quite anticipate the extent of Musk's self-obsession https://www.techdirt.com/2022/11/02/hey-elon-let-me-help-you-speed-run-the-content-moderation-learning-curve/

@feditips is there a good resource for a new small server admin on what dynamics affect Mastodon server load the most?